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| They are our sisters." From right to left: Yahal Oren, Rotem Horowitz, Roni Cohen, Hila Waldman and Bar |
No one remained indifferent to the video of the kidnapping of the observers from Nahal Oz on 7/10, but for Roni, Yahal, Rotem, Hila and Bar it was a reminder of the importance of the role - and also of the false sense of security and the disparaging attitude. Since then they have been in the fight to return the abductees and to perpetuate their friendship. "They are our sisters. It could have been any of us," they sai
Roni Cohen was released in 2013 after serving in KML Kerem Shalom. "The main feeling was that we had to wake up," she said. During Roni's service, an APC managed to cross the Kerem Shalom crossing and penetrate a kilometer into Israel. "We were in chaos for 8 hours. There was an intrusion whose purpose, according to the intelligence, was to enter the base and kidnap soldiers. My anxiety level was sky high. Luckily it ended peacefully. We would pass on a lot of intelligence and we didn't know where it stood. You look Hamasnik on the fence in the eye, you see that he is training to kill civilians, you report and you don't know what happens with it."
Bar Amram, who served in the Nahal Oz and Kerem Shalom military units and commanded female observers in training, described an experience similar to Roni's, who was released three years before her. "We are in some kind of bubble. We are not updated in the background or in the prompt. There is a false chain of events, and instead of having a complete picture with the link in front of us and behind us, we only pass on the point we saw. And it's a shame. We know the sector best and we have a lot to give."
Hila Waldman was released in 2010 after serving as a soldier and as a commander in the Kissuf and Kerem Shalom military forces. "Time has passed but I see that nothing has changed," she said. During my time, at least the headquarters had weapons, and then that too was stopped. Their confidence and their souls are underestimated. Personally, I'm still stuck in my head with a very difficult case of cast lead. They don't come to talk to us about it later,tthey don't think about mental suppor
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| The female observers' protest in Hatavim Square, about two weeks ago |
Yahal Oren, who was released from service at the Nahal Oz HML in 2014, nodded in agreement. "We always had a warning about a tunnel at the base, and they always said it would reach the girls' quarters. To go to the bathroom during a combat round we had to accompany each other with the officer's weapon."
Rotem Horowitz is the youngest of the group, and was released in April 2023 from service at the Mars Balloon (Kissophim). "The situation was similar for us too," she said. "Last March, the General Directorate told us that she thought there would be a raid in the next six months. We tried to figure out what we were doing with it, we asked for access to the materials and we didn't get it. I remember I had a report that I addressed to the intelligence officer who was supposed to receive it, and he did not receive it. I asked questions like 'Why is it okay for a shepherd to be so close to the fence?' And they answered me that there is the best grass there and that's how it is."
"With us, the HML wasn't even protected," Hila said. "We have pictures of us sitting with a helmet and a helmet in position or with pajamas in a shield, and I look at the video of the kidnapping and it's really us. It could have been any of us. They They were sitting there, full of resourcefulness, trying to communicate with the bodies of their friends. We felt the safest in the world in Nahal Oz and in each of the military bases. It was our home, and the terrorists entered it and did as they pleased." Yahel also knows well the shelter from which the female observers were kidnapped. "It's a place where when a period was released we would decorate. It says in big letters 'The eyes of Gaza' and we would put our handprints."
Despite their criticism and that of hundreds of observers past and present, they will still wholeheartedly recommend the role. "There's a reason that every HML is called a family or a house," Roni said. "We're one for the other, we don't take out gimels so as not to screw up the shifts, we close on Saturdays for others, and if we were called to the reserves we'd come right away. They are our sisters. They did not take their eyes off the screen, you can hear how bravely and courageously they continue to report and show how committed they are to the sector and the country. They didn't abandon their positions, so who are we to abandon them?" Bar agreed: "I will continue to tell the girls that this is the best job you can do in the IDF, but we need to create a safety net for the next generation, for them and their parents, and also give the observers who were killed in On October 7, the proper respect - they were not murdered, they sacrificed their lives for the homeland and fell while defending the
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